Fully Awake

“Universal Law: The Oldest Texts on Earth” Course

Course developed by Barry J. Lyons, Sr.

Class 2: Correspondence

Recap of the Principle of Mentalism & its role in the Principle of Correspondence

Part I: Mentalism Redux

· The Core Idea in One Sentence: "Everything you experience, your body, your thoughts,

your world is ultimately a manifestation of an infinite, universal mind."

· An Everyday Example: Imagine you are dreaming. In the dream, you see a mountain, feel

the wind, and experience fear or joy. But when you wake up, you realize that all of it, the

mountain, the wind, the emotions, was created by your own mind. Mentalism suggests

that our waking reality functions the same way, just on a much larger scale.

· The Connection to You: Because the universe is mental, your thoughts are not separate

from the world. Your inner state, your beliefs, your focus, your attitude all directly shape

what you experience. This is not just positive thinking; it is an ancient recognition that

consciousness is the substance of reality.

· Why This Matters for Today: The second Principle, the Principle of Correspondence (our

focus today) is the logical next step. If the universe is mental, then it must be patterned, it

must have structure. Correspondence is the grammar of that universal mind. The same

patterns that organize the cosmos organize your soul. This is why the ancient Egyptians

studied the stars to understand themselves, and why we can study ourselves to

understand the cosmos. WE ARE ESSENTIALLY MADE OF STARS.

· The Big Takeaway: Mentalism is not a belief you need to adopt, it is a lens. When you look

through it, ancient texts like the Pyramid Texts & others stop being strange myths and start

being maps of the mind.

REMEMBER!

· Ancient spiritual texts are not "laws" but living descriptions of experience.

· The Principle of Mentalism ("The All is Mind") appears across cultures—in the Rigveda's

creation by desire, the Tao's "nameless" origin, and Egypt's Ptah creating through thought

and speech.

Part II: The Principle of Correspondence – Definition & Hermetic Context

· The Classic Formula: "As above, so below; as below, so above."

· Explanation: This principle asserts that there is a constant harmony and parallel between

the different planes of existence: physical, mental, and spiritual. The patterns you see in

the stars are the same patterns at work in your own psyche. The cycles of nature are the

cycles of your own life.

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· Key Implication: Because the macrocosm (the universe) and the microcosm (the human

being) are mirror images, understanding one gives you access to the other. You can know

the cosmos by knowing yourself, and vice versa.

It is crucial to distinguish the Hermetic Principle of Correspondence from its modern, often

watered-down caricatures. This is not "The Secret", it is not a formula for material

manifestation that says, "Think about a red car, and the universe will deliver one to your

driveway." Correspondence does not reduce to a transactional wish-fulfillment engine

where your thoughts instantly purchase physical outcomes. Nor is it simply "you reap what

you sow" in the moralistic sense of cosmic punishment or reward, where good deeds

generate an automatic refund of blessings and bad deeds incur divine penalties.

Furthermore, it is fundamentally different from the popular misunderstanding of Karma as a

celestial ledger of debts and credits. The ancients did not view the judgment as a petty

accounting of sins; rather, it was a question of ontological alignment: Are you made of the

same truth and order as the cosmos itself?

Correspondence is not about doing good to receive good; it is about recognizing the

underlying structure of reality so deeply that your inner state naturally resonates with it. It is

a mirror, not a contract. It reveals that the patterns of the stars are the patterns of your

psyche, and that understanding the rhythm of the seasons can teach you the rhythm of

your own grief and joy. It does not promise to bend the universe to your personal desires;

instead, it invites you to align your soul with the universe's existing order, a far more

profound and demanding task than simply wishing for what you want.

The Hermetic Context

· Where Does This Come From? The phrase "as above, so below" is most famously

associated with the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, a text that emerged from the

same Greco-Egyptian milieu as the Corpus Hermeticum.

· The Hermetic Vision: The Corpus presents a universe that is a living, interconnected

whole. “The divine mind” (Source, Creator, The Most High, etc.) pervades all things, and

humanity is uniquely positioned to recognize this connection. Correspondence is not just a

poetic idea, it is the structure of reality.

· Connection to Last Week: If the universe is mental (Mentalism), then it makes sense that

it would be meaningful, that patterns would repeat across scales. Correspondence is the

grammar of the universal mind.

Beyond "Law" – Correspondence as Lived Experience

· Returning to the Course's Core Theme: The ancient Egyptians did not call this a "law." They

built it.

· The Pyramid as a Model of Correspondence: The pyramid itself is a physical embodiment

of "as above, so below." Its square base represents the earth; its ascending sides point to

the sky; its apex unites the two. The king's burial chamber is positioned to align with the

stars.

· The King as the Nexus: The pharaoh was understood as the living link between heaven and

earth. His ascent to the sky after death was not a departure from the world but a fulfillment

of the correspondence between his divine nature and the celestial realm.

· Discussion Question: "What are the 'pyramids' in your own life? The structures, habits, or

beliefs that connect your inner world to the outer world"

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Part III: Democratizing the next dimension:

The Pyramid Texts vs the Coffin Texts

· What Are They? A collection of over 1,185 spells, incantations, and religious writings

inscribed on coffins beginning in the First Intermediate Period (c. 2134–2040 BCE).

· The Shift: While the Pyramid Texts were reserved for royalty, the Coffin Texts were used by

the nobility and, eventually, common people. This represents a democratization of the

afterlife, the understanding that the Principle of Correspondence was extended beyond the

king.

· The New Focus: In contrast to the Pyramid Texts' emphasis on the celestial realm (the

sky), the Coffin Texts emphasize the subterranean afterlife ruled by Osiris, in a place called

the Duat. This shift reflects a changing theology, the journey is now through the

underworld, not just upward to the stars.

· Example Spell: consider Coffin Text Spell 335, which describes the deceased's journey

through the Duat and the transformation into various divine forms. This is Correspondence

as process: the soul must become what it seeks to join.

· Key Insight: The Coffin Texts represent a broadening of Correspondence, the

principle that the cosmos mirrors human experience is no longer limited to the king. It

applies to everyone.

Remember:

The mind is both the problem and the solution: this course is about learning to use it

consciously.

Homework & Reading for Next Week

· Reading Assignment:

· Excerpts from the Corpus Hermeticum (Book II: "To Asclepius" – focus on the

correspondence between the cosmos and humanity).

· A selection of Coffin Texts spells (e.g., Spell 335 on the transformation of the soul).

· Journal Assignment:

· Identify a pattern in your life that feels 'cosmic': a recurring theme, a cycle, a relationship

that seems to mirror something larger.

• Write about it as an expression of Correspondence. How does seeing it this way

change your relationship to it?

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